Swifties Condemn 'Greedy' eBay Listing for '22' Hat Taylor Swift Gifted Young Fan

Taylor Swift performs '22' at Metlife Stadium

Swifties are rallying in defense of one young fan after her family listed the autographed 22 hat that Taylor Swift gifted her on eBay.

According to screenshots taken of the since-deleted listing, the hat came from the singer's string of shows at Metlife Stadium in May 2023. The young girl was hand-selected out of a crowd of more than 80,000 people by a member of Swift's team to stand at the end of the catwalk during the opening song of the Red set.

Each night, Swift takes the hat, which has been signed by her, from her own head and places it on the singular fan's, as the two share a sweet moment and brief chat in the middle of the concert.

The listing included two photos of Swift and the young girl, one of which appeared to show the two clutching hands, and the other of Swift as she dropped the hat onto the girl's head, and explained that the money earned would "Go Towards Her Collage [sic] Fund."

Bidding started at $20,000, plus an additional $6.33 for shipping, and fans were quick to criticize what many viewed as a "greedy" cash grab and "selfish" move on her guardians' part—after first confirming that it wasn't a scam using stolen photos.

After identifying the family, some fans reached out to confirm if the listing was legitimate and were disappointed to discover that it was—especially after finding social media posts showing off "multiple luxury cars and designer everything," leading one to accuse them of being "insanely wealthy and just greedy."

Others wanted to know how someone can "be so selfish and sell something that’s so precious to their child," guessing that "the girl probably didn't even have a say either."

Some did step up in their defense, though, with one acknowledging the expensive nature of higher education—though they still pointed out photos suggested the young fan likely wasn't "old enough to really grasp the situation," even if she happened to consent to letting the hat go.

As others imagined what they would have done with the hats if they had been "honored" to have been picked for one, one person whose family actually received one of the hats wrote, "Our family is being buried with ours," calling the move "sickening," while someone else likened it to a "family heirloom."

With that level of sentimentalism placed on the item, plenty also wondered who "in their right mind" would pay that kind of money for an item where the experience of having received it in the first place makes up most of the value.

"The people most likely to want a 22 hat are hardcore swifties," another wrote, pointing out that "hardcore swifties" would be "revolted by the idea of selling the hat," leaving few willing to buy—especially at that price point.

But as fans continued to call them out, seemingly leading to the listing's removal, some also called out the Swifties who were contacting them, calling it "super weird behaviour" and "none of our business."

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